Innholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2021 i Discover Britain

The Debussy Suite The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, East Sussex Charles Debussy was France’s great modernist musical composer, an aural accompaniment to the Impressionist art of Monet and Renoir. After scooping the Prix de Rome in his early 20s, he settled in Paris writing a series of sensual orchestral works and piano pieces that would transform classical music at the turn of the century. By 1905, however, he had separated from his first wife Lilly, who would attempt suicide as a result, while embarking on a scandalous affair with Emma Bardac, a Parisian singer and mother of one of his pupils. Rather than jetting to another European capital to escape the fallout from his infidelities, Debussy instead spent the summer in Eastbourne on England’s south coast. Debussy chose to hole up…

“Chippings found in the area prove Stonehenge was honed, in situ, thousands of years ago” Dr Heather Sebire, Senior Property Curator, English Heritage As curator, I am responsible for the conservation of Stonehenge. This varies from ensuring tourists can take selfies without impacting the stones, to monitoring the microscopic lichens that grow on them. Stonehenge is unique. Every single stone has been worked on, whether smoothed to fit the lie of the land or architecturally designed with toggles and notches so they slot together. Chippings found in the area prove they were honed, in situ, thousands of years ago. Stonehenge’s smaller blue stones are probably from the Preseli Hills in west Wales. More recent research has matched the larger Sarsen megaliths with local stone originating in West Woods, Wiltshire, about…

A PIGEON’S EYE VIEW If you’ve ever sat among the pigeons in Trafalgar Square and wondered what life might be like from their perspective, then a new book published this autumn has just the answer. Bird’s Eye London contains more than 150 aerial photographs of the British capital, not only of landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and the British Museum [pictured above] but also lesser-known sights such as Tooting Bec Lido and the Hub Café in Regent’s Park. The book is the work of photographer Paul Campbell, who spent the last five years circling the capital in a helicopter. He wanted to avoid using drones so that he could take better shots and truly experience London from above. “I have always been mesmerised by the landscapes as a passenger flying…

In January 1684, when the River Thames froze and Londoners took to the ice on sleds and skates to enjoy the winter frost fair, the diarist John Evelyn was there to describe the scene. “There was likewise bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet plays and interludes, cooks and tippling, and lewder places, so as it seemed to be a bacchanalia, triumph or carnival on the water,” he wrote. “When the Thames froze for six weeks... Everyone from shoemakers to fruitsellers set up on the ice” Between the 14th and the mid-19th centuries Britain shivered amid more frequent, severely cold winters than occur today, during a period that is sometimes called the “Little Ice Age”. In London, the River Thames – at the time wider, shallower, un-embanked and un-dredged – was…

A fine romance I always enjoy reading Discover Britain. This issue, my favourite article was The Romantic Road [Issue 218]. I’ve visited Britain a few times in the last 10 years, but it’s been 16 years since I’ve spent time in the Cotswolds. With a bed-and-breakfast in Cheltenham as my base, by means of walking and taking the bus I spent many a happy day exploring several idyllic Cotswold towns. Your article brought back many pleasant memories. Don Orloff, Winnipeg, Canada Like father, like daughter Thank you for your article on Ada Lovelace [Issue 217]. I was well aware of the famous (or infamous) Lord Byron but had no idea he had such an accomplished daughter. I was also pleasantly surprised to note the resemblance between father and daughter, especially…

When you imagine the Scottish Highlands, you might picture a bleak, windswept peat bog, several rocky peaks in the background, softened at the edges by low-hanging clouds, and perhaps a ginger, well-fringed Highland “hairy coo” in the fore. And while you might be right when it comes to the weather, if you’re visiting the Lochaber region, in the west and about two hours’ drive from Glasgow, you’ll find yourself having a far more varied trip than this. The west Highlands’ highlights cluster around its loch-shore “capital”, Fort William, the gateway to Scotland’s impressive inland waterway, the Caledonian Canal. From there you can embark on one of many adventures. Perhaps a romantic steam-powered ride on the popular Jacobite train through Glenfinnan, where Highland clansmen gathered to meet Bonnie Prince Charlie and…

Heraldry is a magnificently rich yet concise method of conveying details of an individual’s or family’s identity Per pale Azure and Gules a Chevron Or cotised Argent between three Acorns slipped and leaved Or.” It may sound like a medieval spell, but this is, in fact, a “blazon” – a technical heraldic description, often combining elements of old French, Latin and English. It describes the coat of arms granted to Michael Middleton in 2011. The arms, since used by his family, were to provide his daughter Catherine, now the Duchess of Cambridge, with a traditional heraldic identity as she married into the Royal Family. Heraldry, the regulated means by which coats of arms and suchlike insignia are devised, is a magnificently rich yet concise method of conveying details of an…

With iconic yet relatively accessible scenery, these Lochaber locations have hosted many memorable cinematic moments over the years • Glenfinnan Filming for the second and third Harry Potter films (2002 and 2004) took place in Glenfinnan, as pupils from Lochaber High School were used as extras and the Hogwarts Express famously crossed Glenfinnan Viaduct. Today a crowd often forms at the station when trains are due. • Morar The pristine beaches of Morar were used as sets in the films Highlander (1986) and Local Hero (1986). In Rob Roy (1995), a cottage was built on the northern shore of Loch Morar to be one of the titular Scottish folk hero’s homes. • Glen Nevis Braveheart (1995) utilised many Scottish locations, but Glen Nevis appears in a number of key early…

The current St Paul’s Cathedral is the fifth iteration to be built on Ludgate Hill in the heart of the City of London. Christopher Wren had been tasked with redesigning the cathedral even before the Great Fire of London raged for four days in September 1666 and razed the old building to the ground. In doing so, it gifted the architect carte blanche to start afresh with what was London’s tallest building for more than 250 years. Work began in earnest in 1675 and the £1 million construction costs (about £150 million in today’s money) were secured with the help of a tax on coal. Though routinely described as Wren’s masterpiece, the true secrets of this remarkable building are still only now being understood. Here are six aspects of the…

With its limestone turrets and traceried windows glittering in the sun, Wollaton Hall looks like an ornate jewellery box perched incongruously on a hill. And like all precious jewellery boxes, treasures lie within its hidden compartments. Indeed, this Nottingham country house was so opulent, that a visiting Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV, later said it should have a glass case to protect it from the elements. Wollaton Hall is one of Britain’s finest grade I-listed Elizabethan buildings. It was built between 1580 and 1588 for landowner and industrialist Sir Francis Willoughby, who wanted a sumptuous residence in which he hoped the then monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, would stay. To show off his wealth and prestige, he engaged architect and surveyor Robert Smythson, who had already completed Longleat in…

Wells Cathedral This cathedral’s namesake city is famed for, well… Wells. Some four million gallons of water flows up from the main source that is now located inside the grounds of the Bishop’s Palace. Many archaeological digs have established that settlers arrived here as far back as the Stone Age, while the remains of a Roman burial chamber and a Saxon minster church reveal its continuous importance to subsequent eras. Work on this cathedral began around 1175, culminating in the imposing, 100-foot high West Front 80 years later. It is dotted with more than 300 carved limestone figures, around three-quarters of the original total. No visit is complete without a stroll down the adjacent 14th-century Vicars’ Close, a quaint terrace of medieval houses. www.wellscathedral.org.uk Cheddar Gorge While veterans of the…